Truck body



W. C. NABORS raver; BODY 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Dec. 19, 1938 June 25, 1940.. w. c. NABORS TRUCK BODY Filed Dec. 19, 1958 3. Sheets-Sheet 2 gwuem to v WILL/AM C M45025 s R Q B A N c w TRUCK BODY Filgd Dec. 1.9, 1938 5 Shaets-Sheet 3 WALL/AM C. M6025 Patented June 25 1940 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE W TRUCK BODY William C. Nabors; Mansfield, La. Application December 19, 1938, Serial No. 246,541

4 Claims. (o1. 296-3) I k, This invention relates to a truck body. wherein like numerals of ,referencesdesig- {It An object of the invention is to provide a truck. nate the same parts in each of the figures, the body specially designed for transporting cases numerals I, l designate the side rails arranged of bottled goods such as soft drinks and the like in pairs, one on each side of the body. As illus- ,5 although itis capable of other uses and the intrated in Figure 3 there are four pairs of side vention embodies a skeleton framework whose rails. At their ends these side railshare an parts are so united together as to provide a very chored to the front and rear corner. posts 2, 2, light but strong and durable structure. I 3, 3. A preferred form of side rail has the in- Another object of the invention is to provide wardly'extending bottomflange 4, arranged horia vehicle having a plurality of decks one above zontally and the inwardly extending top flange lo the other each deck embodying side rails, end 5 extending horizontally and whoseinner manrails and flooring combined in a novel manner gin 5a is downwardly turned,' said top and botto form a very light but strong and durable suptom flanges beingconnected by the vertical web port for the cases of bottled goods to be trans- B as is also more accurately shown in Figure 8..

ported to the end that the body will have amaxi- Connected to the front corner. posts opposite, 15.,

mum capacity for transporting goods with a and in alignment with the respective side rails mimimum of weight. are the end rails I which are preferably formed The invention also embodies a novel framework of flat bars and similar rear end rails are atconstruction including transverse spacer rails tached, at their respective ends, to the rearc ora Whose ends are supported by the side rails of the her posts 3 and in alignment with the corre- 20 body with intermediate, vertical supporting sponding pairs of side rails.

standards extending through the spacer rails and Extending transversely of the body are the securely anchored thereto to give the necessary spacer rails 8. A preferred form of spacer rail strength to the load supporting structure. is shown in Figures 7 and 8. It is formed of;

With the above and other objects in view the relatively thin, strong metal T-shaped in cross- 25 invention has particular relation to certain novel section with its central leg 8a. extending up-.. features of construction, arrangement of parts wardly from the horizontal head flanges 8b 8b. and use, an example of which is given in this The ends of these spacer rails rest on themspecification and illustrated in the accompanying wardly extended bottom flanges 4 of ,the corre-;

drawings, wherein: sponding side rails and the downwardly turned 30 Figure 1 shows a side elevation of the complete margins 5a of the side rails are notched to re,- body. ceive the upper margins .of the legs 8a. of the Figure 2shows a plan View, showing the right spacer rails, as shown in Figure 8. side of the skeleton framework. As clearly shown in Figure 7 the spacer rails Figure 3 shows an enlarged, fragmentary, ver- 8 are formed so that the legs Ba will be of an 35 tical, sectional view taken on the line 3 3 of inverted U-shaped form and the supporting Figure 1. f standards 9 extend up. through said legs 8a.

Figure 4 shows an enlarged, fragmentary, horiopenings asBc being provided for that purpose. zontal, sectional View taken on the line 44 of As illustrated in Figure 1, each deck framework 40 Figure 1. I has a plurality or series of spacer rails 8, four 40 Figure 5 shows an enlarged, fragmentary, horibeing shown in each series although more or I zontal, sectional View taken on the line 5-5 of less may be used depending on the size of the Figure 2. body and the spacer rails ofeach'series are ver- Figure 6 shows an enlarged, fragmentary, vertically-aligned with the corresponding rails of;

tical, sectional view taken on the line 6+6 of the otherseries. As illustrated,- there are two '45 Figure 1. r vertical standards 9 for each .vertic-allyaligned Figure '7 shows an enlarged, fragmentary, verseries of spacer rails 8 These standards ex-; tical, sectional. view taken on the line "l -'l of tend through the spacer rails except the. top- V Figure 3. I one and the crowns of the upper series of legs .8a

60 Figure 8 shows an enlarged, fragmentary, ver.- rest on the upper ends of the corresponding. 59' V tical, sectional viewtaken on the line B-8 of standards as illustrated in Figure 3.

Figure '7, and The series of transverse spacer rails, except the Figure 9 shows an enlarged, fragmentary, secbottom series, are securely anchored to the standtional view taken on the line 99 of Figure 2. ards 9 and to the longitudinally extendingangle Referring now more particularly to the drawirons Ill which are fitted into the angles between 5 side membersl3 of the vehicle. These side mem b'ers are commonly channel irons with their flanges extending horizontally inwardly. Suitable clamp hooks as M may be engaged over the free margins of the lower. flanges of said side members with clamp bolts as [5 fitted through the other ends of said clamp hooks. The vertical side flanges of the angle irons ll are provided with brackets as l6 having bearings to receive the corresponding bolts l5. Each bolt [5 is provided with a head at one end to engage the clamp hook and is threaded at its other end to receive a clamp nut l8 thus providing convenient means for anchoring, or securing, the truck body to the vehicle framework. However, any suitable means for anchoring the body to the vehicle framework maybe employed since this forms no part of the present invention. Each deck embodies also flooring formed of sheets l9. These sheets extend transversely of the body between the spacer rails and between the front and rear spacer rails H and the front and rear end rails l with their ends overlapping and resting on the adjacent flanges 4. As will be noted from an inspection of Figure 7 the margins of the sheets l9 overlap the corresponding head flanges 8b of the spacer rails 8. The margins of the floor sheets at the front and rear of the body are upwardly turned forming flanges as l9a which are fitted against the corresponding transverse bars or rails l and welded thereto. The lower faces of the floor sheets are connected to the longitudinal angle irons ID. The floor sheets have suitable spaced, upstanding corrugations, or ribs, 20 extending from side to side of the body. The floor sheets are thus supported at their ends intermediate the ends, and at their side margins and are amply reinforced and strengthened by the transverse corrugations 20 so as to readily support the bottle cases and yet to provide a very light and durable construction.

On opposite sides of the body are the fenders 2| for the vehicle wheels, an intermediate portion of the lower side rails l, I being cut away toprovide the required space therefor and in front of and behind each fender are the longitudinally extended, outwardly curved metal sheets 22, 23 supported and reinforced by the longitudinally extended angle bars 24. The upper margin of the sheets 22, 23 are fitted underneath the corresponding side rails l, and their lower margins are reinforced by the channel strips 25, 26. All of these adjacent parts are securely welded together and the ends of the sheets 22, 23 as well as the ends of the angle irons 24 and finish-channels 25, 26 which are adjacent the fenders 2| are securely welded thereto. The forward end of the finish-- ing strips 25 are continued on around the forward end of the body, as shown in Figure 2, and

are welded to said forward end while the channel strip 26 is continuous, extending entirely around the rear end of the truck body and forwardly to the fender on the other side.

The upper ends of the front posts 2 are connected by the front cross-bar 21 and the upper ends of the rear posts 3 are connected by the cross-bar 28. The front end of the body is formed of a sheet 29 whose side margins and top margins are curved rearwardly around the corner posts 2 and the top cross-bar 21 as shown in Figures 1, 2 and 3. The rear end of the body is enclosed by a downwardly and rearwardly widened skirt 30 whose upper margin overlies the rear cross-bar 28, as shown in Figure 5, and whose lower margin. is surrounded, reinforced and braced by the channel strip 26. This skirt is suitably reinforced and strengthened by reinforcing as 3|.

Upstanding from the top rails l, at the front and rear are the brackets as 32 to the upper ends of which the front and rear ends of the longitudinal display board 33 are secured. This display board is of an inverted V-shape in crosssection as shown in Figures 3 and 6, its sides providing suitable display surfaces and it also serves to tie the front and rear ends of the framework together and to strengthen the structure.

The adjacent parts of the body framework are preferably welded together, although they may be secured together in any preferred manner. The floor sheets l9 may be made removable or, if desired, they may be welded to the adjacent parts of the structure.

What I claim is:

l. A truck body comprising end frames at each end thereof including corner posts, side and end rails connected to the corner posts, said side rails being channel shaped and having upper andlower inwardly extending flanges, the inner margins of the upper flanges being downwardly turned and formed with notches, transverse spacer rails arranged in series the rails of each series being in vertical alignment, said spacer rails having laterally extending head flanges and upstanding legs, the ends of said spacer rails resting on the lower side rail flanges and the legs extending into the corresponding notches, standards upstanding adjacent the respective series of spacer rails and on which said spacer rails are supported, means for supporting said standards, floor sheets between the spacer rails and between the end spacerrails and the end rails the margins of the floor sheets being supported by the adjacent rails, said end frames being effective to prevent endwise movement of the side rails, and the co-acting notches and spacer legs preventing movement of the spacers relative to the side rails.

2. A truck body comprising corner posts, side and end rails connected to the corner posts, said side rails being channel shaped and having upper and lower inwardly extending flanges with the inner margin of the upper flanges being overturned,.spacer rails whose ends rest on the corresponding lower rail flanges, said overturned margins having slots therein and the spacer rails having upstanding legs fitted in said slots and contacting the upper flanges whereby the coacting slots and legs prevent movement of the spacer rails along the side rails, said spacer rails having laterally extended head flanges seated on the lower flanges, floor sheets whose ends are supported on the lower flanges of the respective side rails, whose margins adjacent the spacer rails overlap the head flanges thereof and whose margins adjacent the end rails are overturned and secured thereto.

3. A truck body comprising corner posts, side and end rails-connected to the corner posts, said side rails being channel shaped having upper and abutting relationship with: the vertical legs of lower inwardly extending flanges with the inner margins of the upper flanges being overturned, transverse T-shaped spacer rails whose ends seat on the corresponding lower rail flanges, each of said spacer rails comprising upstanding, parallel, spaced legs connected together at the upper margins by a cross-web, and laterally extending head flanges which are welded to the horizontal portions of the side rails at the ends of the spacer rails, said overturned margins having slots therein into which the upstanding legs of the spacer rails are positioned and in abutting relationship with the upper flanges of said side rails whereby the co-acting slots and legs prevent movement of the spacer rails along the side rails, said spacer rails being arranged in vertically aligned series and having vertically aligned holes in the cross-Webs which connect the vertical legs, and standards extending through said holes and in the spacer rails.

4. An end construction for a truck body comprising a vertically disposed metal sheet whose ends are rounded, vertical members attached 'to each of said ends, each member having a central right angled portion formed of sides which are respectively parallel and perpendicular to the plane of said metal sheet, and end legs reversely pitched at right angles to said sides an'dwhich secured to said end, horizontal members connected to the sides of the central angled portion of said vertical members which are parallel to'the 

